I haven’t been watching a lot of movies lately, and one night, I found myself bored, without too much homework and in need of a cute, funny and light movie. Scrolling through Amazon Prime video options, I found The Big Sick, a movie I had heard of before, but never knew what it was about. I clicked on it by the end of the first five minutes, I was fully engrossed.
The Big Sick is a movie based on the true courtship between Pakistani comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon.
It was the modern-day heartthrob I was looking for. I loved how the movie was packed with humor, an authentically funny couple as well as characters that felt dimensional and real. It pinpointed how prejudice, upbringing and culture can make barriers in a romantic relationship. This movie, although there were times where I thought things were cliche, brought together two people in love through an unexpected way — through the life of hookup culture.
The story began with denial in both ends of the relationship for the couple to be together in any sense — having met at a bar after Kumail’s stand up show and hooking up afterward, both weren’t ready for any type of commitment.
Obviously, this doesn’t hold for long, and the couple starts dating. Throughout the beginning of their relationship, Kumail’s parents were completely unaware of her presence in his life and he put up barriers between them because of what they might think about his religious choices, love-life and American lifestyle.
This aspect of the movie made it feel real to me. Knowing that cultural difference is a barrier that many couples have to overcome, it made me feel more for the characters in the story and root for them to be together even harder than before. The acting and confrontations of the characters not only made the movie feel raw and emotional, but even more real and heartbreaking once the couple didn’t see each other throughout the second half the movie.
The screenplay and script made the acting and characters feel truer than most. In any art form, it’s difficult to completely capture the authenticity of a character, let alone all the characters involved throughout the narrative. After looking up the movie post-watch, I discovered that the script was written by Emily Gordon.
Overall, if you have the time to watch this thought-provoking, funny, heavy-yet-lighthearted film, do so. I guarantee you won’t regret it.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Genre: Romantic Comedy
10/10 would recommend.